Expert working group on NBS

The NBS Expert Working Group work closely with the other experts who applied for the call and who have indicated their willingness for further engagement. This larger group support the expert working group by suggesting sources of information on nature-based solutions to promote climate resilience in urban areas; and highlighting gaps in our current knowledge; review the outputs of the expert group; take part in online discussions on nature-based solutions and other topics. EKLIPSE facilitates this involvement over the coming months.

Review the method protocol of EKLIPSE expert working group on Nature based Solutions

In August, the expert group had elaborated their draft protocol for the design of an impact evaluation framework that can be used in an adaptive management approach with the demonstration NBS projects. The review of this draft protocol was public and has been broadly disseminated. Anyone was free to comment or give the expert group feedback until September 2nd using this Excel spreadsheet. Comments or forms were sent to peer-review@eklipse-mechanism.eu unless the reviewer wished to remain annoymous in which case comments were sent to secretariat@eklipse-mechanism.eu.

The review process resulted in 22 individuals or organisations giving feedback on the draft protocol. The expert working group worked hard to include as much relevant comments as possible.

Review the impact evalutation framework of ELIPSE expert working group on Nature based Solutions

Following the method protocol, the EKLIPSE NBS Expert Working Group has now drafted their work: an impact evaluation framework with a list of criteria for assessing NBS’ performance in dealing with challenges related to climate resilience. This framework is intended to be used by H2020-funded NBS demonstration projects for increasing urban resilience to climate change, in order to make their results sufficiently comparable to be able to build a joint evidence base on co-benefits and on challenges of NBS.

The draft report can be found on our website and was open for consultation and review until 3 pm CET, December 2nd .The final editing and formatting of in-text references and the reference list will be undertaken after the report’s review. Also please note that this document reflects the results of a quick scoping review of the peer-reviewed and grey literature and is by no means comprehensive. It intends to cast an eye on the multiple dimensions of impact that nature-based solutions projects may have when implemented at different scales, from regional to building. The impact assessment framework presented herein is intended to be used to guide an assessment of the effectiveness of nature-based solutions projects. It is the first step in a process, and is likely to be refined by other expert working groups in 2017. It is not intended for circulation.

The final report was made publicly available on the EKLIPSE website in March 2017.

EKLIPSE is committed to ensure the usability of all its products and had therefore organized an open review process of this draft report engaging a range of stakeholders. The review process was as follow:

Organisation of a virtual Focus Group meeting involving representatives of ongoing FP7/H2020 projects with hands-on experience in similar fields, representatives from cities or city development agencies, DG R & I and two of the three co-chairs of the NBS Expert Working Group. The main objective of this focus group was to consult experts from ongoing projects and get feedback on the applicability of the framework, including gaps in reporting and suggested strategies for addressing them. This Focus Group meeting was held on November 14th from 9am to 12pm and will be via GoToMeeting.

External expert review of the report (mid‐November to early December, 2016)

Public consultation on the draft report – the draft report will be placed on the EKLIPSE website allowing members of the public to comment on it between mid‐November and early December, 2016.

Steps 2 and 3 resulted in 10 reviews received. The EKLIPSE NBS Expert Working Group is now integrating all relevant comments received. A table with all received comments and their respective responses from the Expert Working Group will be soon published here.